There seems to be a momentum occurring and I want to align myself to it while it’s moving in such a positive direction. This Coffee-Thing is taking on a life of it’s own. The Art of Coffee at the Coffee Roasters in San Anselmo will end April 8th and on April 10th there will be a new coffee art show at ArtWorksDowntown in San Rafael.

Poster for Gang of Four

This show has been arranged by Loring and includes four of the artists from the Abracadabra show—that’s the show that kicked this whole thing off. He’s calling it The Gang of Four and I must admit it is bringing up new thoughts for me. It certainly involves the part of me that is realizing the importance of being involved with other people but the flip side of that visibility is that I might not agree with how I am being represented. The name of the show and the poster created for the show don’t “feel-like-me.” Yet, it is an opportunity that has just landed in front of me to allow a continuing place for my coffee art. I have not reached a personal place where I am driven to hit the street looking for places to show my art. So far that has not been necessary because things just keep coming to me from all kinds of unexpected places. Refills seem to be free. So, for now, I will just sit back and wait for what unfolds next. I do have some fun ideas to experiment with for the next show.

The original coffee painting sold a the Abracadabra show and next it because a feature painting for the IJ article.

The interview about painting with coffee in the Marin Independent Journal is a Wake-Up call that I could have never imagined. It’s something that would not been in my wildest imagination in the first place. Everything seemed to fall into place out of the blue.  It was all such unfamiliar territory for me  — I didn’t even know how to get nervous about it. The I.J. Lifestyle editor was looking for something interesting to write about and happened to see there was a show of coffee paintings in San Anselmo. She sent an email and asked if “I’d like to chat about it?” The next thing I knew was she wanted to meet me in person at my studio. That alone triggered a major “home-staging” for me. It became an intense organization and inventory of everything I have created a some point in my life and still have on hand. I didn’t know if she would want to see anything aside from Coffee Art. I brought all the coffee to the front-line and the rest of my artwork became classified as my Decaf Art. She arrived and only wanted to see coffee art. She interviewed me for nearly an hour and then took a one minute video of me. I was pleased that her focus was mostly on the painting process and why I like painting with coffee. Two days later a photographer came for photos of me painting and close-ups of my “palette”

Painting with coffee over a pencil drawing. Photo Robert Tong

Now it’s all in hindsight but the response has been very positive and I am happy the article was so well written. The big plus is the excitement and interest is seems to be generating for Coffee Painting Workshops. I love how it has inspired some people to be creative.